Bodyfriend Pharaoh S II Massage Chair Review 2024

Are you in the market for a massage chair? Are you also a technophile who loves embracing and testing bleeding-edge technology, getting your hands on it before everyone else?

If you answered yes to those questions, you’ll probably fall in love with the Bodyfriend Pharaoh S II massage chair by the end of this review.

It’s a masterwork product in many ways. It’s beautiful, comfortable, and sumptuously upholstered. It’s also capable of rendering a great massage.

Unfortunately, it’s also a top-end model, meaning if you want one, be prepared to spend as much on this chair as you might on a decent used car. And, although it features lots of cool new technology, part of the problem is that it’s largely untested.

Maybe the innovations Bodyfriend has introduced with this chair will catch on and become new industry standards. Or maybe they’ll be flashes in the proverbial pan—here today and gone tomorrow.

No one can say for sure, which is always the risk you take when dealing with new, cutting-edge technology.

If you like taking chances on that kind of thing, though, you’ll love what you read here, and even if you don’t, we promise you’ll be intrigued.

In the following sections, we’ll step you through everything the mighty Pharaoh S 2 offers, and you can decide for yourself. If that sounds good to you, let’s jump right in and take a closer look!

Bodyfriend Massage Chair Pharaoh S 2 Key Features

Aesthetics matter to some people more than others. If you suffer from chronic pain, you’re probably much more interested in how the massage chair you’re thinking about buying can help make you feel better, and how it looks is a distant secondary consideration—if it’s taken into account at all.

Having said that, if you’re going to spend as much on a massage chair as you might on a decent used car, then you can rightly expect to have the best of both worlds, and on the aesthetics front, the Pharaoh massage chair delivers, just like other BodyFriend massage chairs.

It’s only offered in a single color—gold tone—and even though the design team made no effort to hide the true function of the chair, it’s an oddly beautiful piece.

Yes, it looks a bit futuristic. Yes, it will probably stand out like a brightly burning neon sign compared to the other furniture in the room. However, the aesthetic makes this case appear like a softly glowing golden throne. It looks inviting and comfortable. 

It beckons the viewer to come, sit, and enjoy a massage.

That’s no small feat for the massage chair industry because few other chairs on the market evoke that sentiment, and it is a testament to the Pharaoh’s designers. The chair is a thing of beauty.

It’s also, well….huge. There’s just no other way to say it. 

Measuring 61” L x 33.5” W x 42.7” H when upright and 78.7” L x 33.5” W x 39” H when fully reclined and weighing in at more than three hundred pounds, this is a hulking brute of a piece of furniture. You’ll need help getting it where you want it to go and help if you ever decide to move it.

Despite its impressive size, we were a little underwhelmed at the supported weight of the chair.

Broadly speaking, if you survey the massage chair industry, you’ll find that, comfortably, over half the chairs on the market today support 300 pounds of user weight or more.

This one does not. It’s listed as supporting users up to 6’3” in height with a weight limit of 265 pounds, but the user manual recommends no more than 220 pounds.

That’s a genuine disappointment that will limit the chair’s appeal, and it didn’t have to be that way. Reinforcing the frame would have been easy without significantly adding to the price, making it accessible to a much broader market.

On the other hand, as big as the chair is, we were pleased to see that it was built with wall-hugging technology and only requires 4” of clearance between the seatback and whatever wall you plan to place it near. 

That makes it a bit easier to find a permanent home for the chair, though it’s still a big piece of furniture, so it may not work for people who live in a smaller home or apartment.

The final thing to mention before we leave this section is the upholstery.

The vast majority of massage chairs sold today are upholstered with PU. PU has the advantage of being inexpensive and easy to clean, but it’s not breathable, it’s not durable, and it will start showing its age very quickly.

Given the price of this chair, we were thrilled to see it upholstered in genuine leather. It’s supple and longer-lasting and adds to the chair’s quality. When you sit in it, you can feel the difference, and it’s amazing.

Built Using State-Of-The-Art Technology

The bones of the chair are exquisite, which is exactly what you’d expect from a high-end chair like this. 

It boasts a long “SL” massage track that starts at your neck, travels down the seatback following the curve of your spine, and then bends and continues under the seat, allowing the rollers to massage your glutes and the backs of your thighs.

This, combined with the roomy leg massage port, allows the chair to provide a full-body massage that will relax you literally from head to toe.

Even better, the chair comes equipped with Bodyfriend’s excellent body scanning technology, so when you sit down on the chair, it will quietly take a scan and adjust the position of the industry-standard quad rollers, moving them to exactly where they need to be to hit your body’s pressure points precisely.

As good as Bodyfriend’s body scanning tech is, it won’t get the rollers exactly where they need to be every once in a while. In those cases, you’ll find controls on the remote that allow you to manually tweak their position so that you never get anything but the best massage this chair is capable of delivering, and that’s awesome.

In addition, the massage track allows the rollers to move along the x-, y- and z-axis, making it a 3D massage track, but the company describes it as a 4D massage chair.

The first thing to say about this is that the industry hasn’t settled on what 4D means. Some companies use it as little more than a marketing gimmick, but in this case, Bodyfriend means something very specific.

This chair is the first one we’ve seen where the rollers are “smart.” They can change their configuration, so when maximum pressure is needed, two of the four rollers retract, and the motors put all their effort into pressing the two remaining rollers into the sorest spots on your back.  

Then, when you need more finesse and a slightly lighter touch, all four rollers are engaged.

It’s brilliant, and we suspect it will become standard practice in the industry over time. This is one of the cutting-edge features we mentioned at the start. We love it and think you will, too, especially if you’re looking for a chair capable of delivering a deep tissue massage. This one has you covered.

Not As Many Techniques As We Were Hoping

We’ll admit that we were disappointed with the techniques offered regarding this chair. The Bodyfriend Pharaoh S II doesn’t offer much more than the basics. You’ll find:

Most of this is pretty standard fare, but there is one technique to draw your attention to Acupressure.

It’s not a technique you’ll find commonly offered, but it does qualify as an advanced massage technique. 

The company describes it as “Open Palm Shiatsu”. It’s not. 

Although Shiatsu and Acupressure have some similarities, they are distinct techniques in their own right. Hence, the company’s claim that it is a form of Shiatsu is inaccurate.

However, we do not feel the company intentionally tried to deceive prospective buyers. Few people have heard of massage chairs that offer acupuncture, but just about everyone has heard of massage chairs that offer shiatsu. So, in our view, the company was trying to create a relatable connection.

We understand that, but just so you know, Acupressure really is distinct from Shiatsu.

Although there aren’t as many techniques as we would have liked to see on this chair, there are tons of great pre-programmed massage options. These fall into two categories: general massage and “brain massage” (we’ll explain that one in a minute).

Starting with the general massage programs, we find:

Sixteen excellent routines in all. Here, we’d count Stretch as a therapeutic benefit, Digestive as a second therapeutic benefit, and collectively call the two Lymphatic variants as a third therapeutic benefit. 

So, right off the bat, if you’re considering purchasing a massage chair for therapeutic reasons, there are three great reasons to choose this one, and we’re just getting started.

The rest of the Pharaoh massage chair’s pre-programmed options are categorized as “brain massage.”

This is another of the company’s bleeding-edge features; we’re not as sold on this one. The idea is that the massages in this section are paired with binaural beat music, which supposedly not only relaxes you but also helps to improve and increase brain activity.

It accomplishes this by combining two sounds of differing frequencies to create a third sound in the brain. The theory is that the sound aligns with your brainwaves to help put you in an even more relaxed state.

The problem is that there’s not a lot of science we could find to back up these claims.

That’s not to say that there’s nothing to it. The music is soothing, and the massage options here are relaxing; we’re just not sure that medical doctors will line up to endorse it as any treatment.

Even so, it’s an interesting option, and you’ll find several incredible massages in this section, including:

This brings us to 24 different pre-programmed options. Since we’re skeptical of the science behind these “brain massages,” we won’t count any of them as therapeutic features, but your mileage may vary.

Even so, we’ve barely begun to discuss what this chair offers, and we’ve already unearthed three therapeutic features, which is pretty amazing.

Before we move on, though, we should say a few words about body stretching. As mentioned in the general massage options, this is functionally similar to the chiropractic adjustment you get when you visit your local chiropractor’s office.

Bodyfriend does a pretty good job here, but their body stretch isn’t the best in the industry.

It feels good, and it certainly gets the job done. But if you’re looking for a chair with the best body stretch, you want a Kahuna chair. Having said that, Bodyfriend’s Body Stretch is certainly a strong contender and a fine addition to this chair. You won’t be disappointed!

Suppose all of the above isn’t enough. In that case, you can adjust any of these massage options via the remote through five different speed levels and six different intensity levels, which gives you a dizzying number of customization and personalization options.

In addition, if you’re not using one of the pre-programmed massage options but ordering a specific technique manually, you can put the chair in “XD” mode. This mode offers five levels of intensity that cause the rollers to press more firmly into your back, giving you an unbelievably deep, deep tissue massage.

We haven’t seen anything else like it on the massage chair market, and we have to count this as a fourth therapeutic benefit of the Bodyfriend Pharaoh 2 because the deep tissue massage this chair can deliver is simply out of this world.

Still not enough for you? 

Well, the Bodyfriend Pharoah has even more in store for you because it offers both spot and partial massage modes, so you can have those rollers work on the sore spots. It’s intense but will make you feel so much better!

A Good Airbag Massage

Naturally, this top-end massage chair offers more than a roller-based massage. You can also order a head-to-toe airbag massage, which is adjustable via the remote through five different intensity levels.

It feels great, there’s no denying that, and it’s very handy that you can selectively activate airbags by body region, including:

Ultimately, though we sense that the air massage is competently implemented here, it won’t impress you to the point that it will be one of your reasons for picking this chair over others.

Zero-G Seating!

Yet another therapeutic feature the Bodyfriend Pharaoh S II offers is the ability to recline the chair into a Zero-G seating position. By the way, that brings us to a running total of four.

This is superb. Inspired by NASA, Zero-G seating does leave you with a feeling of weightlessness, but that’s not the big draw here.

There’s plenty of scientific evidence that zero-G seating helps lower blood pressure and improves blood flow and circulation. So, if you’ve recently had surgery, it will facilitate faster healing, which is amazing.

In addition, if you want to take the chair’s deep tissue massage to the next level, put it in the Zero-G position before ordering your massage, then crank the intensity level up. It may be more intense than you can stand, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find another chair on the market that can match this one in terms of deep tissue massage.

Our only complaint here is that there’s only a single Zero-G seating position on offer.

For a chair at this price point, we would have loved to have seen two or even three seating options, but even one is good, and we’d certainly take it!

An Out-Of-This-World Calf and Foot Massage

This makes five therapeutic features available from the Bodyfriend Pharaoh S II, and, in our view, this is the standout feature of the design. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a massage chair to top this one for calf and foot massage.

The secret to Bodyfriend’s success here lies in the fact that both the calf and foot massage are rendered by a combination of airbags and massage rollers.

You’ll find airbags and massage rollers for your calves and feet.

Normally, you see the calf massage rendered via airbags only and the foot massage rendered by rollers only. 

The results are sublime, as they are utilized in both places and allow the user to adjust the intensity via three levels on the remote.

The only way the calf and foot massage could have been improved was if the company had included heat in the footwells, but if that had been the case, you might never want to get up from the chair again!

Even without heated footwells, the calf and foot massage is amazing. If you spend a large portion of each day on your feet and are looking for relief when you get home, this will probably be your favorite feature by a wide margin.

Excellent Heat is Offered, Too!

Only a minority of massage chairs on the market today offer heat, but the Pharaoh certainly does, giving it a sixth therapeutic feature on offer.  

It utilizes infrared heat and a twin-coil design, allowing you to adjust the heat level via the remote through three settings. These are labeled 1, 2, and 3, and each one gets progressively hotter, topping out at 140 degrees (Fahrenheit).

Where most of the chairs that offer heat do so only in the lumbar region of your back, the size of these coils means that you get the benefits of heat over most of your back, which is another out-of-this-world feature.

Massage by itself feels good, but adding heat really takes things to the next level, and you’ll love this feature, too.

High-Value Finishing Touches Also Included

The Pharaoh includes a trio of high-value extras in addition to everything else we’ve talked about. 

These include Bluetooth speakers built into the chair, a massage timer that allows you to set the duration of your massage—choosing between 10, 20, or 30 minutes—and soothing LED lights on the sides of the chair.

In addition, since the chair is built using high-quality materials and to exacting standards, it should come as no surprise that Bodyfriend offers it with an impressive 5-year warranty.

All of that is good, but we were still rather surprised at what’s missing.

For a top-end chair, we feel that adding a USB port and memory slots—allowing you to save your favorite massage settings for one-touch recall later—would not have been out of the question, and yet, neither of those things is present in the current design.

Even so, the extras on offer are outstanding and definitely add value to the chair. We don’t think many people will be disappointed in them.

Pros & Cons of Pharaoh Massage Chair

Bodyfriend knows how to build a great massage chair, and the Pharaoh is well worth considering. The company got a lot right, including the fact that half a dozen hard-hitting therapeutic features are woven into the design, which is beyond impressive.

That said, we have to consider the Bodyfriend massage chair Pharaoh’s price. It’s expensive—frighteningly expensive. That fact alone will put it out of the reach of most potential buyers. That’s a pity; it is the biggest negative about the model.

The only real negative to mention here is that the chair has a truly disappointing maximum supported weight limit. That’s not a problem if you happen to weigh less than 265 pounds, but if you weigh more, then it’s a deal-breaker—no matter how much you may love this chair.

Bodyfriend Pharaoh S II Review Conclusion

We almost love the Pharaoh 2. Almost.

Unfortunately, its extremely high price will leave most potential buyers with a bad case of sticker shock, and that, coupled with its modest weight limit, ultimately makes this design a niche product.  

It’s a superb option for lightly to moderately built folks who have plenty of discretionary income and are looking for a chair with many therapeutic features. Unfortunately, that’s a fairly narrow slice of the market.

We recommend this chair without reservation for those users. For everyone else, we can only give it a provisional recommendation. It’s an exceptional piece of engineering—if you can afford it and don’t exceed its weight limit.

Other Options To Consider

So, having read to the end, if you’ve decided that the Pharaoh 2 isn’t the chair you’re looking for, here are a couple of other options that are well worth considering:

This is an almost-perfect massage chair, and anyone considering purchasing a top-end chair should compare whatever they’re thinking about buying to this one. It truly is the gold standard where high-end massage chairs go. 

While this model has a shorter massage track (S vs. the SL track of the chair we just talked about), it’s simply a masterpiece of design.

One of the best therapeutic massage chairs on the market today, this one features a different set of therapeutic features than the model we just reviewed. So, if the Bodyfriend isn’t a perfect fit, this one belongs on your shortlist of options.

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Official Manufacturer Support

Reference & Resources

• Bodyfriend, Official Brand Website.
• Bodyfriend Pharaoh S II User Manual
• Therapeutic Massage for Pain Relief, Harvard Health Publishing.
• Acupressure, Rogel Cancer Center.
• 7 Benefits of Foot Massage and Reflexology, Foot.com.